CHRISTINA

Ever since I first went to sea as a teenager beautiful ships have always held a fascination for me. None were more beautiful than the Christina, the yacht of Aristotle Onassis, probably the most memorable secular artefact that I have seen.

When making the decision to have a yacht he took charge of the project. He insisted that the ship be silent, this meant that diesel engines could not be used, and as gearing for turbines produces a whine he required an old fashioned reciprocating steam engine. He found a ship of the right size and the correct engines in a World War II Canadian built frigate. The ship was taken to Germany for its reconstruction. Onassis knew what the ship should be like, and even after the bows had been modified he had them rebuilt to a more elegant shape.

This was not the yacht of a playboy with every known toy, but that of a discerning man.

The various decks were reached by a wide spiral staircase that ran up inside the funnel, the balusters of the handrail had lapis lazuli inserts, as did the door handles.

The main saloon had sandal wood panelling, the raised fireplace was flanked by long seats in tan suede leather. There were major works of art in the room: a painting by el Greco, a jewelled scimitar given by the Shah of Persia, a large jade Buddha….

In addition to the owners suite there were eight guest cabins on each side of the ship, each with its own marble bathroom: here an error had occurred during the rebuilding, instead of following nautical practice with red marble to port and green to starboard the colours had been reversed, perhaps the ship was needed before this could be corrected.

The bar was in a separate room. The bar top was of glass below which were tiny models of ancient ships, a magnetic system moved these models, individually, the length of the bar, giving an excuse for betting among the guests. Many comments have been made about the bar stools. The seats were of shark skin, which was believed to enliven the guests, in rough weather, or should the sitter’s sense of balance be disturbed, walrus tusk handles were mounted on the front edges of the stools to give support.

Astern, the quarterdeck was a mosaic of the boy on a dolphin, Onassis’ personal symbol. The surface was smooth enough for dancing, during the day the mosaic floor could be lowered to form the bottom of a swimming pool. On the aft quarters swimming platforms could be lowered, so that you could relax there and believe that you were alone.

I was on board because it had been decided that the ship should have a helicopter.

The ship was based in Monte Carlo harbour, I was staying in a modest hotel in the town. Although I did have knowledge of helicopter/ship operations I had none of the world of luxury yachts, an ignorance that regrettably has lasted until today. Thus my earnest observations of roll and pitching rates and the turbulence that could be anticipated behind the superstructure with different wind conditions were stupid – guests on board beautiful yachts prefer to be in harbour when bad weather is forecast.

Passengers could be deceived by the silent engines. When embarking at night they would assemble on the upper deck for cocktails with bright lights on the railings obscuring their view of the shore, the ship would slip silently away, and as the lights were dimmed they would suddenly realise that they were at sea.

The whole ship was immaculate, the wooden decks scrubbed white, with unblemished paintwork and varnish. We did not win the contract as it was feared that the metal skid landing gear would mark the deck.

This perfection led to an embarrassing end to the day. With such paintwork bumping into the quay was not to be contemplated. Accordingly as we entered Monte Carlo harbour in the afternoon, the ship was turned to face out to sea, the anchor dropped at the harbour entrance and the quay approached going slowly astern with the tension on the anchor chain controlling the rate of our approach. Unfortunately the cable was just too short and we ended up some distance from the wall. So, the anchor cable was wound in as the ship slowly returned to the harbour entrance, and the anchor raised. We then went farther into the harbour before repeating the procedure. This time successfully securing alongside the harbour wall.

Naturally this all took some time, during which a considerable crowd had collected to see which celebrities had been on board.

The gangway was lowered and the only passenger, me, descended. The crowd parted to allow me through – but you could see that they were disappointed.

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